Amazon Kindle Fire HD 7-inch and 8.9-inch Tablet Now Official, Price, Specs, Release Date

Amazon launched two new tablets in their media event yesterday. The tablets were the Amazon Kindle Fire HD 7″ and 8.9″ models. The Kindle Fire HD, as the name suggests, is definitely better than its predecessor in terms of specs and features. Obviously, this move by Amazon was specifically made to compete with the Nexus 7 and even the new iPad 3. Check out their details below.

The two has very identical specs to each other except the better processor of the 8.9″ variant. There will be no 8GB version of the tablet instead Amazon opt to give it a minimum of 16GB internal storage. When asked why they did this, they said 8GB is not enough for a HD tablet. Amazon also claims that the Kindle Fire HD tablets can last up to a whopping 11 hours of usage!

Amazon Kindle Fire HD 7″ and 8.9″ Specifications

• Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich
• 8.9-inch IPS touchscreen display with 1920 x 1200 resolution and 254 ppi (for the 8.9-inch version)
• 7-inch IPS touchscreen display (for the 7-inch version)
• laminated touch sensor that helps decrease glare by 25%
• TI OMAP 4470 processor said to outperform the current Tegra 3 SoC
• 16GB memory
• Stereo speakers
• Wi-Fi 2.4GHz/5GHz and MIMO support (the first tablet to incorporate it)
• Bluetooth
• HDMI out
• HD front-facing camera with custom Skype app
• Whisperync for Voice – syncs audiobooks with reading to offer an advanced “Immersion Reading”
• Whispersync for Games – save game progress and continue progress from the last saved session, even when switching to a different device
• X-Ray for movies – find out details about movie characters/actors while playing a movie
• X-Ray for ebooks – offers book-related details taken from the web
• All New Email: Exchange support, improved reliability and sync. Support for Gmail, Hotmail and Yahoo.
• Facebook integration – custom Facebook app
• Kindle for kids functionality: Kindle FreeTime supporting multiple customizable profiles (one for each kid)

Here’s the full video of the Amazon media event in case you want to check it out.

http://youtu.be/VYi1jZXz9Kg

The Amazon Kindle Fire HD 7-inch price starts at $199 for the 16GB while the 8.9-inch variant will be priced at $299 for the 16GB. They are scheduled to ship by September 12 in the US. Availability on other countries is still unknown. I guess it will probably land just in time for the holiday season.